Posted on 07/30/2012 9:16:31 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Maryland legislators will be cutting their summer vacations short after Gov. Martin O'Malley announced a special session for Aug. 9 to address gambling questions left unanswered in the spring.
But after Mr. O'Malley repeatedly urged state leaders to “put the issues behind us so we can move forward,” some people are wondering whether the decision was a risky bluff.
It’s the second special session this summer — Mr. O'Malley called the first one in mid-May to wrap up the budget — and the issues of table game expansion at Maryland’s existing casinos and adding a sixth casino in Prince George’s County were largely used as the reasons why the General Assembly adjourned without passing a budget during the regular session.
“I think we had an emergency situation when we adjourned sine die without a budget,” Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, said at a Friday news conference announcing next month’s special session. Flanked by House Speaker Michael E. Busch, Anne Arundel Democrat,and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., Prince George’s Democrat, as well as Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, a Democrat, and Mr. O'Malley, touted job creation and revenue as reasons why the gambling issues require immediate action.
The timing and justification, however, created some skepticism.
Senate Minority Leader E.J. Pipkin, Cecil Republican, issued a statement Friday afternoon criticizing the governor’s reasoning for the session.
“The real crisis in Maryland is not whether there should be a sixth casino location, but rather the trend of recent job losses,” Mr. Pipkin said. “The state is bleeding jobs at a rate of tens of thousands on a monthly basis, and the best the Governor O'Malley can muster is, ‘If you give me another casino, I can get you 3,000 jobs in a few years.’”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
An East Coast California-wannabe.....
Funny how when Bob Ehrlich was governer, every dem though gambling would be the worst thing that could happen to Maryland. Now that O’Malley is governer, MD can’t get enough of gambling. They want to move pass slots to full casino gambling. There is no such thing in MD as politics. It is just the Democratic mafia that runs everything. Who out there knows why O’Malley has been pick as Obama’s lackey?
This is nothing more than another gimmick by O’Malley that he hope will deflect from the fact that Maryland is now number one in job lose, people who make over 200,000 have left for better climes over the last few years and now those making 100,000 or more(federal government workers) are now leaving for Virgina)and the criminal element now runs Baltimore City and parts of Prince George County, this idiot has come up with another gimmick that will leave the state in a worst hole than Glendening did. only this clown wants to run for President in 2016!
There's a lesson here. As the economy tanks, people see more virtue in taxing vice than in prohibiting it.
This is a politican’s payoff to a gamboling donar. The vice tax during a recession is nothing to write home about. These schemes expanded when the economy was booming.
Gamboling brings in crime galore.
In a free country, this wouldn’t be the government’s business.
I'm skeptical of that. Looking at city-data.com, crime stats for LV, Atlantic City and Reno are about what you'd expect for their demographics. I'm not aware of a significant rise in crime in places with riverboat casinos, for example.
Demographics rule the violent crime rate.
Just let me know when The Carousel finally gets to do what it was designed for...
“As the economy tanks, people see more virtue in taxing vice than in prohibiting it.”
NJ’s casinos are taking a beating, between the economy and having to compete with PA casinos (where many of the original suckers, I mean customers, came from. Even in good times, the casinos made a lot of money, and a lot was paid into Atlantic City coffers, but the place was still a toilet (with pawn shops and prostitutes a block or two from all that money being p!ssed away).
They are looking at casinos in the Catskills because even that would be a step up from the abandoned camps and rust-belt towns throughout the region.
Correct - look how lotteries saved state budgets, then gambling expansion, then more gambling expansion. The economic boom brought on by gambling is amazing. Look at all the money it generates for states.
Gambling is a zero sum game that enriches the already wealthy at the expense of the poor. The harm gambling does occurs within the home and in private.
It’s a tax on stupidity and our politicians are right there out front.
“put the issues behind us so we can move forward”...
The usual libtard reasoning to get more money anyway they can.
There’s even a mutual fund called ‘Vice Investor’ (VICEX) that invests in gambling, tobacco, firearm and alcohol stocks. It has doubled since Obama took office.
“There’s even a mutual fund called ‘Vice Investor’ (VICEX) that invests in gambling, tobacco, firearm and alcohol stocks. It has doubled since Obama took office.”
That’s incredible; with the exception of the firearms (not sure why they are in there), it could be called the “addiction index”.
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